PHOTO SERIES: still here, still queer

LGBTQIA+ individuals are most often photographed and documented in exploitative ways, following which the material is typically used in a heteronormative context to make money off of the “eccentric nature” or suffering of this group. While it’s not a new conversation, not often enough are there large-scale attempts to make quiet work that subverts this perception of queer populations. Over the next year, and across several cities, I am photographing LGBTQIA+ individuals in their homes and spaces, away from performance and external projections. The photographs are shot through a queer lens, and each is a collaboration with the individuals in them—an effort to provide a platform for queer community.

Another really important part of the photographs is the medium: 120mm film and a Mamiya 645 medium-format camera. For me, film is more than a “hipster trend”—I slow down when shooting this way, and the queer or chronically ill communities I’m photographing deserve more time and money put into their portraits. We never get that; it’s usually reserved for wealthy, healthy white men. Shooting with film is a way to give time and money to people who deserve it.